Insights

Executive Director Roy Leckie shares his thoughts on recent market developments and highlights the enduring importance of company fundamentals.

“Artificial intelligence” and talk of its ground-breaking capabilities have been around for decades. Almost every company talks the talk around generative AI. But which are the companies making genuine advancements with the technology and how is it going to be transformational for their business?

Executive Director Roy Leckie discusses some of the current trends in markets, and highlights the need to focus on strong company fundamentals in what remains a testing backdrop.

Our research approach is multifaceted. It includes desk-based research, qualitative and quantitative analysis. Discussion and debate amongst the Research team is another critical element. So too is engaging with companies and other experts to inform our understanding and challenge our assumptions.

Microsoft’s announcement of an AI-powered search engine and browser has raised questions for Google and its dominance of search. Despite these developments, we believe Google is more than well-equipped to fend off Microsoft’s challenge. 

While Japan might be set to break free from its deflationary shackles, our positive view on a variety of leading Japanese companies derives more from our bottom-up fundamental analysis than from hopes about the country’s economic transformation.

Shareholder proposals are a growing feature of proxy voting season. While in many ways we welcome this increased shareholder scrutiny, too often what appears a reasonable objective on paper fails to withstand closer inspection.

The electrical grid system has been around for more than a century. Investment Analyst Michael Scott explores how the traditional model is having to adapt to new methods of electricity generation and the transition to net zero.

Europe might have had a chequered economic history since the Global Financial Crisis, but for the Walter Scott Research team, it’s not all bad news and it remains home for many great companies that excel on the global stage.

Hydrogen has been tipped to play an important role in the global transition to renewable energy. Investment Manager Ashley-Jane Kyle takes another look at hydrogen and assesses recent developments from the perspective of two companies in the industry.